This is page 761 of An Icelandic-English Dictionary by Cleasby/Vigfusson (1874)

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THIS letter properly consists of two vowels, different in sound and in origin; an a-vowel, an 'umlaut' of a, and nearly related to it; and a u-vowel, nearly related to the letters o, u, and y: in modern Danish these two ö-sounds are still distinguished in pronunciation, the one being open almost like Engl. i before r, as in fir, the other closed like eu in French feu: Rask and Petersen, the founders of the philology of the Danish tongue, were the first to give separate symbols for these two sounds; the first they marked ö, the second ø (börn, høre). The modern Icel. knows only one sound, answering to the Danish ö; but that it was not so in old days may be proved from the vellums and from the grammarians. Thorodd marks the two sounds respectively by &aolig; and ø. Most of the vellums are very loose in their spelling, marking at random o, &aolig;, au, (?), UNCERTAIN ø (oll, &aolig;ll, aull, arll UNCERTAIN): phonetically ø stands exactly in the same relation to œ, the umlaut of ó, as ö to &aolig-acute;, the umlaut of á, so that ø and ö are the short, œ and &aolig-acute; respectively the corresponding long vowels; ø and œ, ö and &aolig-acute; being two pairs of sounds, just as are o ó, u ú; cp. 'Goðrøði' and 'góð rœði,' Skálda, Thorodd: in very old vellums, e.g. the Rb. Cod. 1812, the ø is often marked eo, thus keomr = kømr, eoxn = øxn = yxn, geora = gjöra or gøra: in Norse vellums ø is often written œ, e.g. smœr = smjör, confounding the two sounds, ø and œ. A few good vellums keep the distinction in the main, not as Thorodd's alphabet does, but generally by writing ey for ø (this must not be confounded with the diphthong ey); among those vellums are the Cod. Reg. of Sæm. Edda, the Cod. Acad. of the Hkr. (now lost), the Cod. Fris., the (lost) vellum of Rafns S. (see Bs. i. pref. lxix), although none of them strictly follows the rule; only a few Editions (e.g. Prof. Unger's Edit, of the Hkr.) have tried to observe the distinction; most Editions print ö throughout. We shall now try to give a list of the chief words and forms which have the ø. The chief guide in doing this is twofold, the ey of the vellums and the change of ø into e or é, by which a triple form arises, ø, ey, and e, of which ø and ey, no doubt, are mere variations: I. the ø is either, 1. the umlaut of o; in the plurals, sønir seynir senir, hnøtr hnetr, støðr steðr (sonr, hnot, stoð): in the compar. and superl., nørðri neyrðri nerðri, nørztr neyrztr nerztr, øfri efri, øfstr efstr (from norðr, of): in the subj., þørði þerði, þølði þeylði (Fms. viii. 380), møndi (from þora, þola, monu or munu), bjøggi beyggi, hjøggi heyggi (from búa, bjoggu, höggva, hjoggu): the presents, kømr, trøðr treyðr treðr, søfr sefr (from koma, troða, sofa): the prets., frøri freyri freri, gnøri gneyri gneri, søri seri, sløri sleri, róri reyri reri, kjøri keyri keri, snøri sneyri sneri, grøri greyri greri (see Gramm. p. xxiii): the words øðli eyðli eðli, øðla (a lizard) eyðla eðla, høllzti heylzti hellzti: in -røðr (Goðrøðr, see Thorodd), -frøðr -freyðr -freðr (Hallfrøðr Hallfreyðr Hallfreðr), hnøri hneyri hneri, øxn eyxn exn, køri keri (a probe), kjør (a choice) keyr ker, kjøptr keyptr keptr kjaptr: ørendi eyrendi erendi: the prefix particle, ør- eyr- er-: the words kjøt ket, smjør smér, mjøl mél (prop. køt, smør, møl), gørsemar gersemar, ørr and eyrr, a scar, Fms. viii. 275, v.l.; hrør and hreyr, heyrum and hørum (p. 261, col. 2). 2. in the case of roots in -vi or -vj, where both v and j struggle for the umlaut, the result is an ø; in this case even a radical a changes into ø (this was for the first time observed by the late Danish scholar Lyngbye), thus, gørva geyrva gera (from garvian), gørr geyrr gerr (= ready), gørvi gervi, gørsemi gersemi, øx eyx ex (Goth. aqwisi), sørvi seyrvi. This is esp. freq. in those roots which have g or k for the middle consonant, in which cases the root vowel, either a or i, changes into ø; as in the verbs sløkva, søkkva, støkkva, hrøkkva, kløkkva, sløngva, høggva, hnøggva, þrøngva; in the adjectives, døkkr, nøkviðr, gløggr, hnøggr, snøggr; similarly with the orthography ey for ø, -- heygg (caedo), Am. 39; deyqva hramns, Skv. 2. 20; at kleycqvi Guðrun, Am. 58; klecqua, Akv. 24; hví er þér steyct ór landi, Hkv. Hjörv. 31; nú mun hón seyqvaz, Vsp. 62; seycstu nú gýgr (sink thou now!), Helr. 14; sleyngdi svá silfri, Am. 46; steyccr lúðr fyrir, Hkv. 2. 2; sýtir æ glæyggr við gjöfum, Hm. 48; gleyggr, Skv. 1. 7; gleggr, 291; neykðan (nudum), Am. 49; neycqviðr, Hm. 49; Beyggvir = böggvir, Ls. 45; røkvið and rekvið, Hkv. Hjörv. 35, Bugge (pref. ix); reykr = røkr, Fms. iv. 70: the word rekkja (a bed) is also spelt reykkja, and even rjukja, Art. (Ed. Kölbing) 64; vekka and vökvi. Phonetically connected with this change, but in a reverse order, is the change in the words nekkverr nökkurr nokkurr and eingi öngr öngvan, etc. In all the above instances the ey means ø, and is merely substituted for that sound, and is accordingly altogether different from the diphthong ey, see p. 114, col. 2, l. 15 sqq. 3. one may also assume an ø in the few instances where jö and jo, and jo and y interchange; in mjölk and mjolk (milk), mjok or mjök and mykill, þjökkr and þykkr, mjörkvi and myrkvi. This ø of the ancient tongue is the parent of the e in several modern words and forms, e.g. in the presents, sefr, kemr, treðr, heggr, sekkr, stekkr, hrekkr; in the preterites, greri, snéri, réri; the compar., efri, efstr, helztr; in gera, erindi, frerar, and freðinn: so also in the words két, mél, smér; and in inverse order, in nokkurr, in öngvir, öngvan, öngum, from einginn; cp. Dan. sen